Macmillan Caribbean Writers: The Voices of Time

In this rich and memorable novel, the twentieth-century history of Trinidad forms the backdrop to an evocative, sometimes harrowing, family saga: the story of three generations of the ill-starred Greenidge clan during their dogged rise from colonial poverty to middle-class affluence. Notable for its insights into the difficulties faced by West Indian women of the period, and for its portrayal of the proud and tyrannical Barbadian patriarch Gustus, who first determines to create a better life in Trinidad for his wife and children, The Voices of Time is narrated by three of its principal characters, who recount their tribulations and achievements to a younger family member in a sinuous and flexible adaptation of the nation language first popularised in novel form by Samuel Selvon and Earl Lovelace.